Leaves in the Wind
by Ghostout
Summary: Because even if the worlds are safe, it's not all sunshine and rainbows. Fourth chapter up! Please give your thoughts! :) I do not own kingdom hearts or any of the characters. T to cover my butt
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

The whispering rain fell over his head as he felt the water slide down his body. The boy stood up with his brown, spiky hair drooping slightly from the weight it held. His bright blue eyes shone in the darkness as his gaze was targeted outwards into the horizon, his feet dangling off the edge of a branch on the island he grew up in. The island where he found her. A slight laugh came out the length of a break as he recalled the events that had transpired only weeks ago. After finally returning home, he realized that everyone had moved on. Everyone but the people who went through the journey with him. He didn't mind much, he was too busy with coping with the drastic change from near death experiences and lightning fast decisions, to the more relaxed laid back form his life had encountered.

Since everyone moved on without them, Sora and Riku were left to fend for themselves. Their parents long since left their homes, forgetting why they stayed there so long in the first place. After that, the two keyblade wielders decided to make their home on Destiny Islands, away from all of the people and distractions the mainland had so they could just relax in peace. Kairi was conflicted as well, for she knew that they would be all alone and she felt guilty for leaving them like that and had been trying to convince the boys to let her stay with them. The boys adamantly declined saying they were fine alone and they couldn't make her leave her family for them. Since then, every day Kairi came to see them and the more and more times she came, the less time she spent with Sora and was off with Riku. Sora found this a little odd, and it hurt him knowing that the one who held his heart (both literally and figuratively) was being so distant from him.

He flung himself off the tree and slowly glided down til his feet gently touched the ground. With his right hand outstretched, a beam of light shone and was quickly replaced with the ultima keyblade. It had taken him weeks of searching for the items to synthesize the keyblade, and took every last drop of patience he had but once he got it, he knew it was worth. He took his stance with the keyblade pointing diagonally to the ground on his right side and quickly went into a flurry of parries and blows that sliced through invisible shadows, each blow heavier and sharper than the last. But no matter how much he put it off, his mind always drifted back to the shimmering red head's recent attitude towards him. A particularly unorthodox slash caused him to fall face first on the ground and he refused to get up.

Why? Did I do something wrong? He thought as he stared into the starry heavens.

"There you are you lazy bum!" a voice exclaimed from the distance. Speak of the devil. He quickly stood up as his keyblade dissipated into the air and put on his ear to ear smile as she approached him.

She was wearing a light blue spaghetti top, with a thin white jacket over it and regular old jeans which he felt oddly contrasted with her outfit. She was panting slightly with her hands on her knees for a second before she smirked and smacked his arm playfully, "Where have you been? Riku and I have been looking everywhere for you!"

"I was just practicing" he lied. I can't tell her about my worries, she's so happy. Kairi squinted her eyes, to which Sora uncomfortably shifted his weight before saying "Well then, time to go back!" he exclaimed as he made his way back to the house they built on the extreme corner of the island, near the docks where their boats were tied up. Kairi reluctantly let the topic drop as she chased after Sora on their way back

She noticed that he had been looking down lately but she couldn't for the life of her figure out why. Did his parents leaving really hurt him that much...? she thought as she struggled to keep up with Sora's pace. She was always the one who was behind, never in front. At times this frustrated her, especially when the guys wouldn't let her stand by them when they were in trouble. But right now she was too worried about Sora to care. I wish I could help him...

They slowed down as they approached the make-shift shack of wood and nails they had built when they first got back from traveling the worlds. Sora opened the creaky door and sheepishly put his hand behind his head as he saw Riku glaring at him jokingly.

"Well I heard you were looking for me" he said with a chuckle. Riku grinned and put a hand on his back

"I wasn't the one who was worried" he said with a smirk, as he saw Kairi blush. Sora shrugged it off and made his way to his room "I'm tired, gonna hit the sack. Night guys!" he said before shutting the door behind him. Kairi's gaze lingered on his door for a moment before she shook her head and sat down on the couch. A sigh escaped her lips as she stared at the ceiling.

"Love troubles?" the silver haired teenager asked as a sad smile showed on his face.

"I wish... He's been so distant since he's gotten back. I feel like his heart never really recovered from everything he's been through" Kairi answered with a bow of her head, her face obscured by her hair. "I... I feel so useless."

Riku grimly nodded and crossed his arms across his chest, then leaned on the wall behind him. "We might have brought him back, but his heart was always with you, you know that right?"

Kairi's face tilted away from Riku as a blush painted her face bright red, a ghost of a smile appearing on her lips.

"Yeah..." she stared at Sora's door "You're right, we can still bring him back"


	2. Chapter 2

**Hi guys! I forgot to introduce myself in the first chapter so I'm opting to do it on the second chapter :P I'm Ghostout and I lurk around this site a lot, reading mostly romance fanfics of Kingdom Hearts, Tales of the Abyss, and Pokemon. I am actually thinking about making a Sora/Aqua fanfic sometime but for right now I'm making an angsty romance about Sora and Kairi. If they seem overly depressed, I'm basing this in the sense that they are just kids and they've gone through things most adults have never dreamt of suffering through so that carries a lot of weight in their hearts. Please read and review!**

**Riku: This guy doesn't own KH or any of the characters.**

**Me: HEY... I have a name...**

**Riku: When you get a review I'll think about it.**

**Me: I could make you die a horrible fiery death if I wanted to.**

**Riku: O_o**

**Me: On that note... Here's chapter 2 of Leaves in the Wind!**

Chapter 2

The pestering sunlight beats through the worn windows onto his sleeping face, after a brief fight against the urge to wake up, Sora finally gave up and got out of bed. With an aloof yawn and lazy stretching, he made his way out of his minimalist room, furnished only with a mattress he and Riku found while they were walking around town, a small desk made out of cheap wood that had a candle standing on top of it. As he checked to make sure Riku was still asleep, (RIku surprisingly is a very lethargic person when he isn't saving the world) he made his way outside and stood with his hands on the rails looking out onto the sunrise that had woken him up not a few minutes ago.

_It's so bright..._ he thought as his gaze lazily looked around for something interesting to spot. Every day on the island was the same, Sora would wake up and go out fishing for breakfast while Riku slept in. Sometimes, the spiky haired boy thought, he should pull his own weight. With a quick pivot of his foot, he made his way back into the house where he stealthily opened the door to Riku's room. Riku's room was about the same as Sora's with a difference being that Riku didn't have a candle on his night stand._ Must be an aftereffect from being in darkness too long._

As he approached Riku, he grabbed a pillow that had made its way to the floor (god knows why) and gently smacked him upside the head with it. As the pillow connected with its target, Riku instantly forced his eyes open as he lost his balance and fell onto the floor with a very girly "WAAH" cry. Sora chuckled a little bit before he said, "It's about time you woke up"

Riku mumbled something as he got up from the floor and stared Sora down with a menacing death glare that could've killed any normal person on the spot. Sora isn't normal so he just shrugged it off as he made his way out of the door, "It's your turn to go out and get breakfast, I'm tired of being your food supply".

Riku grudgingly made his way out of his room as he saw Sora sitting on the chair, staring out the window they had made by simply blowing a hole through it using their keyblades. Of course they framed it so the splinters would not hurt anybody. At that moment, all the childish anger he had for making him not be lazy washed away as he stared at Sora's eyes. They were still a blue that could capture anybody's eyes, but they didn't shine. In fact, they seemed hollow.

"What you standing around for, the fish aren't gonna catch themselves!" Sora exclaimed with a smile that didn't reach his eyes. Riku sighed and mumbled "yeah yeah" as he walked out the door.

Riku knew that something was going on with his friend ever since he came back. He wasn't the same cheery kid who saved the worlds and whose heart rivaled that of a princess of light. Kairi kept asking him to tell her as much as he could about what happened to Sora to see if she could help. Even after explaining everything he himself knew, both he and Kairi couldn't figure out why he was this way, and they spent hours and hours thinking up of ideas to cheer him up.

_It's almost like he's avoiding us..._ he thought as he stabbed at a fish with an amateur spear. With deadly precision he got his target and put it in the bowl and walked around the edge of the beach, doing the same for about a half hour before he walks back into the house with a good half bucket full of fish that he set on top of the counter. They didn't have a stove, so they made a small fire pit outside where the ground was made of soil so that the house wouldn't catch on fire everytime they tried to make food.

Riku was surprised to see Sora in the same place he left him, still staring out the window, with those hollow blue eyes. The thud of the bucket hitting the counter broke him out of his reverie and he snapped to attention. "Alright then food!" he jumped at the bucket and clutched it before sprinting outside, leaving Riku just shaking his head.

Sora emptied the fish onto a clean cloth and cleaned the bucket before setting it aside to the usual spot they left it in and put the cleaned fish into the pan he heated up while he was waiting for Riku to come back and he squatted down and stared at the fish, flipping them around every once in awhile. When the fish were finally nice and cooked, he put them on plates they made and made his way back into the house. His vision tinted into black at the edges as he set the plates down but he just blinked it away.

"RIKU FISH IS READ-" Sora stood paralyzed as he saw threads of black swarming around him and he couldn't move. Fear running rampant in him, he was hyperventilating as Riku made his way where the sound ended.

The last thing he saw was Riku looking questioningly at the paralyzed Sora. And then,

_Darkness._


	3. Chapter 3

**Me: Hey guys! It's Ghostout finally here for a new update on Leaves in the Wind :)**

**Riku: I don't think anyone cares about your introductions.**

**Me: I don't think anyone cares about your face .**

**Riku: ... How old are you again?**

**Me: FEAR ME.**

**Riku: *sigh* Here's chapter 3. As usual he doesn't any of Kingdom Hearts and its characters blah blah blah.**

**Me: Why do you hate me so much?**

**Riku: I need a reason now?**

Sora weakly opened his eyes and looked around him. He wasn't in the shack anymore with Riku. He was in darkness. Utter and complete darkness. He sighed as he forced himself to stand up on the seemingly invisible floor. _What happened... Where am I?_ he thought as he absently walked forward, searching for something in this endless abyss. His feet seemed to be on solid ground but abruptly fell through the ground and he felt himself falling.

_No not falling... Floating?_ he thought as he seemed to be suspended in mid air. he swung his arm out and a flash of light beamed out of his hand before the keyblade replaced it. Sora pointed directly in front of him and shot a beam of light weakly. A ways away he heard a small chink and saw what seemed to be a crack of light enveloped in the darkness. He shot another beam of light at it, only stronger and caused a shattering sound to pierce his ears, as he was enveloped by tendrils of light and darkness as he gasped and heard a voice faintly.

_Please... Don't leave me again..._

***

Kairi expertly tied her boat to the dock as she had so many times before. She sighed as arched her back and stared at the sky. Riku had called her 20 minutes earlier telling her to get to the shack as soon as possible. _Did something happen to Sora...?_ she shook the morbid thoughts from her mind as she made her way up the stairs to Sora's home. She was secretly jealous of Riku. She felt as though she never had much time to spend with Sora and wished that she was living here with him. Then again they always shut that idea down whenever she brought it up. _It's not like I can't take of myself..._ she fumed.

She lightly knocked on the worn door and almost instantly was opened hurriedly by a concerned Riku. "You're here! Good." he remarked as he led her inside, his eyes darting from place to place. Now Kairi was getting increasingly worried. She had never seen Riku this worried. Not even when they were fighting Xehanort.

"Wait. What's wrong Riku? Where's Sora?" she exclaimed as she looked around, noticing her secret crush was nowhere to be found. Riku let out a sigh and pointed at Sora's door. "He's in there" he stated blankly, although his eyes were betraying concern.

Kairi warily squeaked open the door and snaked her way inside the room. Although she had been in his room before, she felt almost relieved as she walked through the simple bedroom of his. Almost like she was home.

Her eyes quickly went from a glazed dreamlike stare to a shock as she looked at the spiky haired boy. He was laid down on the bed with no sheets over him. If one was to look solely on his body, then they would say he is sleeping soundly. But the problem wasn't with his body. It was his face. Where once were luminous eyes blue that she could stare at and get lost for hours on end, stood strings of dark thorns that whispered quietly around him. His cheeks were already turning black as it seems to bleed through the thorns to the skin. She staggered a step forward and then stood in complete shock. _D...Darkness? But how? Sora never let the darkness get to him..._ she thought as her stare lingered on the boy's face.

She moved her hand from dangling on her side to reach for her friend's face, but a shield of light burst into her sight as she heard Sora scream in otherworldly pain and arch his back. She was horrified at the sight of her closest friend being in such a painful state and instinctively moved to hold him down, but once again was met with resistance as the light caused him to feel shocks of light shoot through him. His whole body squirming trying to escape it while letting out what was now less of a scream and more of a painful howl.

Kairi quickly backed off and fell down as she caught her breath she was unconsciously holding while this entire thing was occurring. What... What's happening to him?! Her train of thought was interrupted as Riku stormed in the room and looked at Kairi.

"Kairi! Are you alright?" Riku asked as he helped her up.

"Yeah... Riku... what HAPPENED to him?" Kairi asked with a strained voice, trying to fight back the panic that was swelling inside her. Riku dropping his head was not helping.

"I can't say... It must be the darkness finally getting to him" he answered with a solemn look on his face. Kairi's head was whirling with thoughts. _No... No Sora would never give in to the darkness!... Would he?_ She walked closer to the sleeping figure of her friend, being safe to keep a distance away from him. She stared at his scrunched up face and struggled to keep herself from touching him. SHe always loved him. More than he would ever know. Yeah she had a crush on him but he wouldn't love her back. She doesn't deserve him after all she's put him through.

And yet here she is, standing over the one she's always been watching.

"Sora...? I know you're in there." her voice was calm as she started, "I don't know what's happening to you and I don't know what I can do to help... But please... Come back to me. I lost you twice already... I... I can't stand to lose you again." her voice was strained at the end and her fists were balled up.

She knelt on the floor and looked longingly at her soulmate, the man who gave up her heart for him. The man who went through hell to make sure he came back to her. And now, it looked like it was all for naught.

"Please... Don't leave me again."

**Please review! I get anxious when people don't review as English is my second language and I don't know if I'm writing well or not :( Criticism is heavily appreciated, as well as just a good job to know that someone likes my work or something like that. Just give some feedback pleaseeeeee :3**

**May the stars watch over you all. G out (Guess where I got these quotes from and I'll give you +1 internets)**


	4. Chapter 4

**Me: Hey guys! Sorry It's been so long since the last update. There was a blizzard here and I lost power for days so I couldn't do much and that made me sad :(**

**Riku: Stop giving excuses and go do the disclaimer.**

**Me: *pulls out a butcher's knife* THAT'S IT RIKU I AM SICK AND TIRED OF PUTTING UP WITH YOU**

***Riku runs away screaming like a little girl with me right behind him slashing at him***

**Sora: *sigh* Ghostout doesn't own Kingdom Hearts or any of the characters.**

A large thud brought Sora back to his senses. He silently mumbled a curse as he stood up groggily and scanned the area around him. The first thing that grabbed his attention was the pale white chapel that stood out dramatically from the natural landscape around him. The chapel itself seemed as though it was empty, but the fact that it was so well kept meant that it was used in the near past. Around the chapel stood clumps of shrub and tiny vegetation that blanketed the floor of where he landed. A small breeze caused the leaves and grass to dance quietly.

He made his way to the door before he finally took a good look at the chapel. It was gargantuan in size, with pillars that had carvings of stories long since forgotten._ Oh, that looks like Kingdom Hearts_ he thought as he ran his fingers over the carving. There was an intricate heart design that appeared in the center of the drawing, with swirls of different shapes around it. There was writing underneath the drawing, but it was too alien to him so he ignored it and kept looking at the heart. The shapes seemed more defined now, with the shapes of people being easily recognizable. _They seem familiar somehow..._ he mused as he shook the brooding thoughts from him and made his way into the chapel.

The perimeter of the room was definitely professionally made, with all of the walls smooth to the touch, and patterns of dark spots swirling as if they were dancing to an invisible gust of wind. The center of the room had the same setup as any other church, with wooden seats standing upright and in formation, seemingly staring at the middle of the room. What seemed to differ from other churches was the fact that instead of all of the seats pointing straight ahead, they were split in half with the seats on the left pointing diagonally to the right and the seats to the right pointing diagonally to the left. As he followed the path of the seats vision, he came across a small glinter that caught his attention in the middle of the room.

"It seems you've finally made it here Sora" a voice from nothingness seemingly appeared from nowhere. Sora quickly held out his hand and grasped out the keyblade as it was brought into this world.

"Who are you?" he asked, to no one in particular. Footsteps faintly sounded in the dark and got louder as each step was taken.

""You're not in a situation where you can ask questions Sora" the bodiless voice answered. Sora gripped his keyblade harder and set it down in his signature diagonal position, with both his hands on it.

A slight gust of wind approached Sora from the side and he instinctively brought his keyblade straight up to block it. A clank of metal rang through the room as he successfully parried off he assailants attack and quickly went on a counter attack and slashed horizontally from where the attack came from. He hit nothing and quickly retreated back to his battle pose.

"Why don't you come out of there and face me like a man!" Sora yelled as he strained to hear any signs that an attack was coming. He got a chuckle as a response and then disappeared in the darkness. _Wait... Since when was this room dark?_ he thought

"Since your heart revealed its true nature" the bodiless voice responded seemingly to his thoughts. He took a step forward and stopped, although Sora had no idea where he was.

"What are you talking about?" Sora retorted and gripped his keyblade harder. "And how did you know what I was thinking? Who the hell are you?!" he was yelling at the end of his questioning.

The bodiless voice broke out into a laugh, first quietly, then quickly crescendoed as Sora took a step back, cringing from the loudness of the laugh. "Do you really want to know who I am, Sora?"

Sora quietly nodded as he warily looked to see where he would come out of. Footsteps became louder as the Sora tried to pinpoint the location of the steps. Finally, the blanket of darkness parted as a man came out with trailing puffs of black gases. Sora's eyes widened and he dropped his keyblade, which earned a sneer from the man standing in front of him. Sora gasped as he saw the man fully in the light

"You're... You're me"

********************************************************************************************************

Kairi was baffled at the sight that was in front of her. The Sora that just moments ago was sleeping peacefully, was now writhing and letting out an otherworldly scream with his entire body being engulfed in the tendrils of black that were slowly creeping up his skin in the shape of veins. The scream got louder and louder as he rose from the bed, his body emanating soft black tendrils, his body pitch black with the only light that shone from him is the menacing golden shade his eyes had become.

She fell back on her chair as the shadow Sora approached her, bearing an unseemingly human grin that showed pale fangs which shone dimly in the sunlight. He reached out with his hands, which had turned into slender claws, to touch her face. She flinched away and stood up with her arms stretched outward, stuttering as she asked "Who... who are you?"

The shadow Sora crouched down and gave a devilish grin before he answered in a low growl, "It's me Kairi... Don't you recognize your own friend?"

Kairi stood immobilized by fear and shock with her hands slowly returning to her side. Sora took a step forward and put his claws on her cheek and lightly scratched down her neck. Kairi flinched and then took a step back, but the claw gripped her in place as she struggled against his grip. "No... You're not Sora! Sora wouldn't give into the darkness!" she retorted as she jerked her hand out. The devilish silhouette simply chuckled before looking at Kairi.

"Of course he wouldn't. Not alone. He had help in that regard." Kairi's eyes squinted in anger.  
"What are you talking about? Where's Sora?" she questioned as she grabbed the silhouette by the shirt and pinned him against the wall. The silhouette's grin was ear to ear when he answered.

"Why Kairi, it's because of you"

"What the hell are you talking about?!" yelled Kairi as she threw him on the bed. The creature just stole her gaze as he slowly sat upright on the bed.

"You made him give your heart. You made him lose what made him him. And now, he'll never be the same. And it's all because of you" said the silhouette in a matter of fact tone, before standing up and walking towards Kairi. "You made him change" he said, then he collapsed into her arms, the black swirls dissipating from his body and leaving behind a fainted Sora.

Kairi realized that although he was just trying to get into his mind, the creature was right. This was all her fault. She was the one who caused him so much pain, she caused him to give himself up for her sake.

She couldn't do it anymore.

She gently laid Sora down on the bed and sat down in the chair next to him with her hands balled into fists at her knees and sobbing softly with tears riding down her cheeks. And once again she felt useless to Sora as the day blurred away like a gust of the wind.

**Awwwww Kairi is feeling down in the dumps and Sora is MIA :( What will she do? Find out in the next chapter instalment of Leaves in the Wind**!


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